Rug scrubbing device



y 1962 o. 1.. ALLEN EI'AL RUG SCRUBBING DEVICE Filed July 18, 1960 I N V EN TORS OLIVER l2 flun/ Jul/1v 7. E2202 05527 0. LnMP:

TFIEH? ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,046,586 RUG CRUBBING DEVICE Oliver L. Allen, Riverside, and John'T. Ferraris and Robert C. Lampe, Stamford, Conn, assignors to Electrolux Corporation, Old Greenwich, Conn, a corporation of Delaware Filed July 18, 1960, Ser. No. 43,345 2 Claims. (Cl. 50)

Our invention relates to a scrubbing device and more particularly to a device for shampooing or scrubbing rugs, carpets and like surfaces. I

In accordance with our invention there is provided a power unit, preferably air-driven, which serves to drive a rotary brush. A skirt member is removably secured to the power unit in a position to surround the brush and the lower edge of the skirt member is formed as a bearing surface for supporting the weight of the power unit. The skirt member also serves to prevent liquid from being thrown out from the brush against adjacent furniture, baseboards or the like. Mounted on the power unit is a reservoir for liquid detergent, a valved conduit extending from the reservoir to within theskirt member for supplying detergent to the rotating brush. It is' important that the detergent be supplied to the brush, and not directly to the rug or carpet in order to prevent excessive and uneven Wetting of the latter.

Another featureof our invention is to arrange the bristles so that, particularly under the influence of centrifugal force, at least some of them will rub against- I a minimum.

A further feature of our invention resides in having the brush, skirt member and reservoir all detachably connected to the power unit so that the latter may be used for other purposes. I

Further objects and advantages of our invention will be apparent from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings which form part of this specification and of which;

FIG. 1 is a side view of a scrubbing device in accordance with our invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view on an enlarged scal of a portion of the device shown in FIG. -1

FIG. 3 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, but partially broken away so as to show a valve arrangement;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the apbrush to the power unit;

FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view'showing a detail of the power unit.

ICC

Referring to the drawings, reference character 10 designates generally a power unit comprising a housing 12 and a cover 14. A vertical shaft 16 is rotatably mounted in the housing 12-by means of ball bearings 18 and carries a turbine wheel 20 at its upper end. Wheel 20 is provided with vanes 22 and is disposed in a turbine chamber 24 formed between the cover 14 and a plate member 26. The cover 14 is provided with an air inlet opening 28 having vanes 30 therein which serve to direct air against the vanes 22 of the turbine wheel to thereby causev rotation of the latter.

Plate member 26 is formed with an opening 27 which constitutes an outlet from turbine chamber 24 to a space 29 in housing 12. An elbow 31 is secured to the housing in communication with space 29 and is adapted to have removably connected thereto .rigid conduit.v means,

preferably in the form of a pair of wands.33, to the upper one of which is removably connected the rigid end 35 of a suction hose 37 leading froma suitable source of suction, such as a vacuum cleaner.

Also rotatably mounted in the housing 10 is a vertical shaft 32 the upper end of which carries a gear wheel 34 which meshes with a pinion 36 which is shown as being formed integrally with the hub of turbine wheel 20. Se-

cured to the lower end of shaft 32 is a hub 38. A pin 40 extends through the hub 33 and the shaft 32 in a direction at right angles to the axis of the shaft. A sleeve 42 surrounds the hub 38 and is formed with a pair of inclined slots 44, one of which is shown in FIG.'8,' through which extends the opposite ends of pin 40. Secured to the sleeve 42 is a flange 46. Springs 48 extend from the ends of pins '40 to the outer edge of fiange 46 and tend to rotate the sleeve 42 and flange 46 on the hub 38 in a direction such as to cause the pin 40 to occupy the upper ends of the slots 44, as shown in FIG. 8. During rotation of the shaft 32, the sleeve 42 and flange 46 i will normally rotate with the hub 38, but if the sleeve and flange encounter suflicient resistance to overcome the tension of the springs 48, the sleeve may rotate slightly I to the flange 46 by means of a pair of latches 52 which are slidably mounted on the disc and engageable within slots 54 formed in the flange, as is shown more particularly in FIGS. 6 and 7. Spring arms 56 tend to move the two latches 52 radially outwardly so as to cause'the' noses 58 of the latches to extend beyond the outer ends of the slots 54. The latches may be moved radially inwardly by applying the thumb to the end of one ofthem and a finger to the other and squeezing them towards each other to move the noses 58 into alignment with the slots 54, whereby the disc 50 may be removed from flange 46. The disc 50 carries scrubbing means, such as a circular ring of relatively long flexible bristles 60, at

' least some. of which are flared outwardly, as is clearly shown in FIG. 2.

Reference character 62 designates generally a skirt v member which is removably secured to the power unit by means of a pair of latch members 64, one of which is shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. These latches are mounted in recesses formed in the skirt member at opposite sides thereof and may be pivoted into engagement with slots 68 formed in the housing 12 of the power unit. The lower edge of skirt member 62 is formed as a bearing surface 70 which, as shown in FIG. 2, is disposed slightly above the ends of the bristles 60 when the latter are straight. However, when the device is placed on a surface, such as a rug or carpet, the weight of the power unit bends or deflects the bristles until the bearing surface 70 comes in contact with the rug and supports the major portion of the weight.

Removably mounted above the power unit 10 is a liquid reservoir 72. The central portion of the bottom of the reservoir is concave so as to closely fit the convex outer surface of the cover 14. As more particularly shown in FIG. 5, latches 74 are pivotally secured to the bottom of reservoir 72 to one side of the concave portion and may be pivoted into engagement with the inlet opening 28 formed in the cover 14 of the power unit so as to secure the reservoir to the power unit. The reservoir is formed with a filler opening at the top which is normally closed by a cap 76 frictionally held in the opening. The bottom of the reservoir in the neighborhood of one of the latches 74 is provided with an outlet opening 78 which is formed in part as a valve seat 80, as more particularly shown in FIG. 3. A valve member 82 is mounted on a stem 84 which is reciprocably mounted in the top wall of the reservoir, a coil spring 86 tending to hold the valve 82 against the seat A flexible conduit 88 is connected to the outlet 78 and leads to a nipple 90 which extends through the skirt member 62 slightly below the level of the disc 50. The conduit is removablymounted to outlet 78, nipple 90, or both so that the skirt 62 and reservoir 72 are not permanently connected together.

A valve actuating member 92 is pivotally mounted on the top wall of reservoir 72 and is provided with a slot 94- through which extends the valve stem 84, a head 96 being formed at the upper end of the latter. A flexible member 98, such as a cord or chain is secured at its lower end to member 92 and at its upper end to a ring 108 which surrounds the rigid end 35 of the suction hose 37 above the wands 33 and consequently the upper end of w the cord or chain 98 is conveniently accessible for operating the valve. The ring may be placed over the end 35 before the latter is connected to the wand by being telescoped thereinto. The inner diameter of the ring 100 is less than the outer diameter of the upper end of the Wand and hence it cannot slip down over the wand.

In operation the various parts are assembled as above described and a suitable liquid detergent is placed within the reservoir '72 and the cap 76 is closed. Operation of the vacuum cleaner to which the hose 37 is connected serves to draw air inwardly through the opening 28 so as to cause rotation of a turbine 20, the air flowing in the direction of the arrows 102 through the elbow 31, the wands 33 and the hose 37. Rotation of the turbine causes the shaft 32 to rotate at a reduced speed but with multiplied torque and this in turn causes the brush 50, including the bristles 60, to rotate in contact with the rug or carpet, the major portion of the weight of the device being supported on the rug by the bearing surface 70.

The application of tension by the operator to the cord or chain 98 serves to pivot the valve actuating member 92 so as to lift the valve 82 from its seat against the force of spring 86. This permits liquid to flow through the conduit 88 and the nipple 98 from whence it is discharged onto the rotating bristles 60. Due to centrifugal force, the bristles are caused to flare outwardly and those at and near the points of the star shaped strip rub against the inner surface of skirt 62. Preferably the detergent is of the foaming type and it is caused to foam by the rubhing action of the bristles against the skirt. Consequently, foam rather than liquid is applied to the rug which results in an even distribution of detergent with a minimum of wetting. The dissolving action of the detergent in combination with the rubbing of the rotating bristles against the rug serves to loosen and remove dirt therefrom.

As previously stated, most of the weight of the unit is carried by the bearing surface 70 of the skirt member 62. At the same time, the skirt member prevents liquid detergent from being thrown by centrifugal force away from the immediate vicinity of the brush. The detergent which is thrown against the inner surface of the skirt member runs down to the lower edge thereof where it is immediately picked up by the bristles, which are fiared outwardly as above described. Both the skirt member 62 and reservoir 72 are made as light in weight as possible. There is no advantage in having the device heavy as substantially no weight is applied to the bristles 60.

When it is desired to use the power unit 10 for purposes other than rug scrubbing, the brush 50 may be removed by moving the latches radially inwardly, and the skirt 62 and reservoir 72 may be disassembled from the power unit by pivoting the latches 64 and 74 out of engagement with the slots 68 and inlet 28, respectively. Also the conduit 88 may be disconnected from either outlet 78 or nipple 90 so as to completely detach the reservoir from the skirt member. Upon separation of the end 35 of the hose from the wands 33, the ring 100 may be removed from the former.

While we have shown and described one more or less specific embodiment of our invention, it is to be understood that this has been done for the purpose of illustration only and that the scope of our invention is not to be limited thereby, but is to be determined from the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a surface scrubbing device, a power unit comprising an air turbine having air flow openings adjacent to the top surface thereof, said power unit having a depending rotary shaft, a skirt member removably secured to said power unit and extending downwardly therefrom around said shaft, the bottom of said skirt member being formed as a bearing surface for supporting said device on the surface to be scrubbed, a brush member secured to said shaft within said skirt member and having flexible bristles of sufiicient length when straight to extend beyond said bearing surface, hollow handle means removably connected to said power unit and extending upwardly therefrom, said handle means communicating with said air turbine and being connectable with means for producing flow of air, a liquid reservoir mountable on the top surface of said power unit, latch means on said reservoir engageable in said air flow openings for removably securing said reservoir to said power unit, a conduit extending from said reservoir to within said skirt member for supplying liquid to said brush, a valve for controlling flow through said conduit, and valve actuating means extending from said valve to the upper part of said handle means.

2. In a surface scrubbing device, a power unit comprising an air turbine having air inlet openings, said power unit having a depending rotary shaft, a skirt member secured to said power unit and extending downwardly therefrom around said shaft, the bottom of the skirt memher being formed as a. bearing surface for supporting said device on the surface to be scrubbed, a brush member secured to said shaft within said skirt member and having flexible bristles of sufiicient length when straight to extend beyond said bearing surface, hollow handle means con nected to said power unit and extending upwardly therefrom, said handle means communicating with said air turbine, a hose having an end portion telescopically received within the upper end of said hollow handle and connectable with means for producing flow of air, a liquid reservoir secured to said power unit, conduit means extend- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Nagy May 14, Berberian Apr. 7, Danielsson June 8,

FOREIGN PATENTS 7 Italy Oct. 17, Great Britain May 4, 

